Man Apologizes For Incident With Judge

Charges Dropped In Store Altercation

For Cook County Judge Consuelo Bedoya, the apology she received Wednesday outside of a Rolling Meadows courtroom meant more than what happened inside.

A man had just been acquitted by Associate Judge John J. Scotillo of charges of aggravated battery and committing a hate crime in connection with an incident involving Bedoya at a Glenview pharmacy in July 1998.

But outside the courtroom, Mark D. Hechter, 41, of Winnetka, reached out to shake Bedoya's hand and apologize to her.

"The greatest satisfaction is that Mr. Hechter apologized to my family," said Bedoya, an 11-year veteran of the bench who has been assigned to the Skokie branch of Cook County Circuit Court for the past two years. "We don't have to like each other, but we have to respect each other."

Hechter was accused of punching Bedoya in the shoulder in the pharmacy at 1435 Waukegan Rd., during a quarrel in which Bedoya, 50, leaned on a bag he had placed on the pharmacy counter. He also allegedly said foreigners should go back to their native countries.

Scotillo said he dismissed the charges because prosecutors failed to show Bedoya was injured in the incident and that there was reasonable doubt about whether Hechter's actions were prompted by a hatred of the ethnicity of Bedoya, who is Hispanic.